The Black Knight's Nephew
by Darth Annihilator
Summary: What if Tristan de Bois had an opportunity to speak to his nephew? What would he say? What would he be like? In an attempt to answer this question, I have created a two part oneshot that takes place in an AU where Tristan has two opportunities to speak to his nephew: one in his first appearance and the other when Arthur meets Ygraine. I hope you enjoy this little oneshot I created


**Disclaimer: Darth Annihilator does not own Merlin. The show Merlin is owned by the BBC and has had no input from a British amateur fanfic writer**

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**The Black Knight's Nephew**

Part I: Single Combat, To The Death

The gauntlet hit the floor and the challenge rang out for all to hear:

"I, Arthur Pendragon, challenge you." The words were clear and cold but they stirred up something in the wraith of Tristan de Bois, amongst the burning rage and hatred that was directed at Uther Pendragon. A memory of a time before he was consumed by rage.

"_I, Tristan de Bois, challenge you."_ The memory brought the mind of the man who had been Tristan de Bois back from the depths of his rage, where the magic of Nimueh had forced it when she brought his body back to the land of the living. The wraith looked at the gauntlet and the magic powering it howled at it to accept the challenge - to slaughter the one being that meant everything to Uther Pendragon – but it was not the wraith that was in control.

"No" Tristan replied simply, shocking all who stood before him and angering his nephew even more.

"What?!" the prince demanded, attempting to lunge at the Black Knight but he was held back by Uther.

"I deny your challenge" Tristan reiterated, leaning on his greatsword, the eyeholes of his helmet raising to meet his nephew's furious gaze.

"Why?" Arthur snapped, his face beginning to go red from his anger.

"Because my feud is with Uther Pendragon for his role in the death of my sister - Ygraine de Bois - and him alone" Tristan answered emotionlessly, turning his helmet to face Uther, who was beginning to show signs of anger "I have no quarrel with you, Arthur Pendragon."

"Then why kill those knights?" the price asked, his anger growing at the fact that the wraith seemingly killed his men for no reason.

"They accepted my challenge, honour demanded that I give them the battle they sought" Tristan answered, his eyes never leaving Uther's.

"And yet you refuse to give me the battle I seek?" Arthur challenged, bringing his uncle's attention back to him.

"Yes, because you are an innocent child, playing at being an adult and meddling in affairs you have no understanding of" Tristan admonished before turning his attention to Uther again "And, unlike some, I do not seek vengeance on some people for things they cannot control, which is why I will keep issuing the challenge to Uther until he accepts it, no matter how many knights I have to go through. Just like I did last time."

"I WILL HAVE YOUR TOUNGE TRISTAN!" Uther roared, the purple faced king shooting up from his throne in anger "Dead or otherwise, I am still your king and I expect you to show me the respect I am due AND to follow my orders!"

"And what will you do if I don't? Kill me again?" Tristan mocked, unimpressed at the king's rage filled speech "I have walked through the valley of death before and I am not afraid to do so again."

"Is that so? Then why do you deny Arthur his challenge?" Uther taunted, hoping to make the Knight angry, but Tristan was always the hardest of the de Bois siblings to anger.

"Because my quarrel is with you, not him. Though I must confess that I find myself surprised at your willingness to sacrifice your only son to save your own skin" he was also the best at making other people lose their tempers with words alone, as demonstrated by the vein throbbing in Uther's temple and the grinding of his teeth "If this is your attitude towards your loved ones, perhaps I was mistaken in thinking that Ygraine's death was a tragic accident caused by your obsession with a male heir…"

"YOU WILL BE SILENT" the king exploded, making everyone around him flinch away as when he spoke with that much anger, heads usually rolled (often literally).

"If you truly want my silence, you know how to achieve it" Tristan replied calmly, glancing at the gauntlet on the floor in front of him.

"Fine. Single combat, noon tomorrow" Uther said, after a minute of consideration "Until the death."

"So be it" was the response from Tristan as he finally allowed his mind to be pushed back by the wraith.

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Part II: Face to Face Once Again

"It is your father who should carry the guilt for what happened" Ygraine de Bois said as she embraced her son, unshed tears glinting in both of their eyes.

"Careful sis, one might think you hated The Royal Ass even more than I do if they overheard you saying things like that" came an amused voice from behind Arthur that sounded vaguely familiar to Arthur, though he could not place where he had heard it. Turning, he saw a man that looked startlingly like himself, though the man was older, brown eyed and had significantly more battle scars than Arthur did, with there being a few on his face that gave Arthur a niggling feeling of familiarity, though he did not know why.

"Tristan, what are you doing here?" Arthur's mother asked in shock, not expecting to see her brother there as well.

"Well, heard there was a family reunion going on, so I decided to drop by and say hello" Tristan answered with a smirk before turning to his nephew "Nice to see you again Nephew, though I hope you won't start throwing gloves at me this time."

"Have we met?" Arthur asked, confusion lacing his tone.

"Yes, though I don't think anyone told you it was me, seeing as you challenged me to a duel to the death and all" Tristan answered with amusement as Arthur puffed himself up proudly.

"I assume I won then" Arthur declared before seeing Tristan's amused smirk grow wider.

"No, actually I declined the challenge" he said and Arthur's eyes widened in realisation.

"That was you?!" he spluttered as Tristan nodded in affirmation before wandering around and checking out his surroundings.

"Nice little place you've got here, bit small though" he noted before something caught his eye, making him take a step back "You, boy, who are you and who is your father?"

"I'm… Merlin, and I never met my father and I don't know who he was" Merlin answered the Black Knight nervously, wondering why he wanted to know. Tristan's eyes narrowed in a similar manner to Arthur's when he didn't believe whatever excuse Merlin gave him for not completing his chores.

"Hm, well if you ever do meet him and he is who I think he is, do me a favour and tell him that no matter how much of a clot he thinks I am, he is a moron of monumental proportions and significantly uglier than me to boot" Tristan said with a smile, he would've continued but Ygraine had had enough of his interruptions.

"Tristan, if you're quite finished, you're infringing on my already limited time with my son" she began, hands on her hips and a glare that would scare even The Great Dragon levelled at him "So stop distracting me and clear off!"

"Ouch, that dismissal was colder than the time you insulted Uther for forgetting your birthday, glad I'm not the sensitive type" Tristan deadpanned, resulting in Ygraine throwing a candle at him.

"OW! We're both ghosts! How did you throw that and how did that hit me?" Tristan complained as the candle bounced off his head, Ygraine didn't respond and threw another candle at him "Fine, fine. If you're just going to be violent, I'll go."

"Good" she grumbled, still glaring as Tristan walked past her and the three dumbfounded living people, who were watching the exchange with confused expressions. When he reached the wall on the other side of the room to Ygraine, he stopped and turned to face Arthur.

"Arthur, I'll be honest and say that your father is an ass of astronomical proportions, but he is still your father and he cares for you above all" he said, a serious expression on his face for the first time since he appeared "Do not act rashly on what my sister tells you today, to do so would change you irrevocably – and not for the better - and that is exactly what your enemies desire most"

"TRISTAN!" roared Ygraine, throwing another candle at him, though he ducked under this one.

"Alright, I'm going. Bye Merlin, Daughter of Goloris" he said, nodding to the two he mentioned before turning his attention back to Arthur and giving him a playful bow "See you on the other side Nephew, though I expect it to be a long time from now!"

"TRISTAN!" roared Ygraine again, this time throwing the handle of the axe that had been used in Arthur's test at him, though he had already vanished in a ripple of reality so the handle harmlessly bounced off the wall.

"Insufferable man" she muttered, turning back to Arthur and embracing him again, though when they parted, Arthur had a curious look on his face.

"Who exactly was that, and what did he mean?" Arthur asked, making his mother look down for a few seconds before she met his gaze and nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything…" she said.

**Scene Change: The Afterlife, after Arthur and Ygraine's talk**

"That was a risky thing you just did" Tristan said, upon Ygraine's return to the afterlife.

"I know, but I will not have my son blaming himself for my death when it was caused by Uther's impatience and the Old Religion's laws" she replied, her gaze like steel as she stared at her brother, daring him to disagree.

"And you know that the Daughter of Goloris will use this to goad him into killing Uther, yet you still went along with it, why?" Tristan asked, his tone not judgemental or accusing, just curious.

"He won't…" Ygraine started but was interrupted by a snort of laughter from Tristan.

"He will, he's a perfect meld of your and Uther's personalities, which includes your tempers. He won't let this go easily" he scoffed.

"My son is a better man than his father" rebuked Ygraine, holding her hand up to prevent Tristan from saying more "And even if he does try, I trust the Son of Balinor to talk him down"

"Well, I hope your trust in Merlin isn't misplaced, I'd hate to see such a promising young man be broken at such a young age" Tristan responded, ending the conversation.

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**Well that's that. This is my first (and likely last) attempt at writing a oneshot for Merlin, so I may have gotten the characters' personalities wrong, but it is what it is and I'm satisfied with it.**

**I got the idea from reading a few fics about the de Bois siblings reuniting in the afterlife after Agravaine's death, as it got me wondering what Tristan was like and what his attitude towards Arthur was. We know he hated Uther for causing Ygraine's death with his obsession with continuing the Pendragon line, but we don't know if Tristan hated Arthur, loved him or couldn't care less about him.**

**So in short, to satisfy this thought floating around in my head, I decided to create this little AU where Tristan interacts with Arthur and his parents during two of the episodes that feature bringing the dead back. I hope you liked it.**

**Until Next Time...**

**Darth Annihilator - out.**


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